Hands-On Design: Reinvent Your Creative Process

Meet Jan Wilker, graphic designer and teacher for this course. He shares his creative background that led him from his native Germany to start his own design studio in New York City. Hear about his passions, influences, and sources of inspiration.

Get an overview of Jan’s methodology, which is based on “reframing” the classic design process and structuring it around the pillars of your project. He covers the traditional, logic-based design process and highlights its pros and cons. See how to adapt the design process to fit the specificity of a project through experimentation. Get familiar with the different materials you can use and begin making a sketch of your final project.

To demonstrate his creative process, Jan gives you a walkthrough of his playful experimentation method behind designing a t-shirt. Begin by exploring your project and materials through a hand-on approach. Make a list of observations in order to generate new ideas and creative directions to take your design. Based on the findings of your previous investigation, make a prototype of your product.

Recap your reframed design process and see how it can allow you to create with more freedom. Then, discover how you can apply this design process to other practices. Jan wraps up the course by describing how designers should have a toolbox of skills and abilities, and how continuously exploring and experimenting adds tools to your collection.